Former presidential aide Khaled al-Qazzaz, detained without charge for over a year, is in failing health and requires surgery. The Egyptian authorities are denying him adequate medical care, as well as access to his lawyers and family.

Khaled al-Qazzaz has been detained without charge since 3 July 2013, when he was arrested along with ousted president Mohamed Morsi and other members of the presidential team. The authorities have not allowed his family or lawyers to visit him since 1 July 2014.

Khaled al-Qazzaz’s health has deteriorated severely after almost eight months of solitary confinement in the maximum-security prison of al-‘Aqrab (“The Scorpion”), and before that in secret detention. His family have said he is suffering from severe pain in his neck and numbness and weakness in his hands and legs.

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan shows that Khaled al-Qazzaz is suffering from spinal stenosis, a condition in which the space around the spine narrows and compresses the nerves, as well as herniated discs in his neck and lower back. He requires surgery.

Medical experts have warned that if he does not receive adequate treatment there is a risk that Khaled al-Qazzaz will permanently lose the use of his arms and legs. He will be left in constant pain.

However, the authorities do not appear to have provided him with adequate medical care in prison and are holding him in a cramped (2 by 2.5m) cell, infested with insects and without natural light.

Please write immediately in Arabic, English or your own language:

- Calling on the Egyptian authorities to urgently give Khaled al-Qazzaz access to the medical treatment he needs;

-Urging them to give him regular access to his legal representative and his family;

-Calling on them to release Khaled al-Qazzaz unless he is promptly charged with a recognizably criminal offence and tried before a civilian court in proceedings that are in line with international standards for fair trial, without recourse to the death penalty.

"In order to uphold standards of human rights, civil liberties, and respect for human dignity, CODEPINK urges the immediate and safe release of prisoner Al-Qazzaz to mark the beginning of turning tides of respect for human rights in Egypt."

"Mr. Al-Qazzaz’s detention is a clear violation of the due process and human rights that should be afforded to each and every Canadian citizen. Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest [or] detention." Mr. Al-Qazzaz’s detention is a clear and shameful violation of this fundamental human rights protection.

It is no surprise how much support Mr. Al-Qazzaz’s case has garnered. Notable organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and numerous public figures have all mobilized to demand an immediate and peaceful resolution to this act of injustice. CODEPINK stands in solidarity with these organizations and individuals in defense Mr. Al-Qazzaz’s most fundamental rights.

On this 365th day of Mr. Al-Qazzaz’s detention, CODEPINK implores those in power in Canada to help resolve this tremendous injustice. Each and every day that Mr. Al-Qazzaz’s release is prolonged is a crime. However, each and every day is also a new opportunity to end an egregious human rights violation. In order to uphold standards of human rights, civil liberties, and respect for human dignity, CODEPINK urges you to demand the immediate and safe release of prisoner Al-Qazzaz to mark the beginning of turning tides of respect for human rights in Egypt."

"Adly al-Qazzaz was released in the early morning of 25 June after eight months in detention. He had suffered two heart attacks in detention and needed heart surgery.

The Public Prosecution had ordered Adly al-Qazzaz’s release on “compassionate grounds”, according to an official statement published in the Egyptian press. He is currently in al-Nile Badrawy Hospital in Cairo for a coronary bypass operation.

Adly al-Qazzaz’s release was not believed to be conditional and he did not have to post bail. It is unclear if the Prosecution will continue with its investigation into his case. His family have thanked Amnesty International’s members and supporters for their actions on his behalf.

Armed security forces arrested Adly al-Qazzaz at his home in Cairo in the early morning of 24 October 2013. He is the father of Khaled al-Qazzaz, an aide to deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi who has been detained since 3 July 2013. Amnesty International believes that it is likely that Adly al-Qazzaz was targeted because of his son."

"The army and security forces arrested Mohamed Morsi and nine of his aides on 3 July 2013 and detained them for months in conditions amounting to an enforced disappearance. At time of writing, aide Khaled al-Qazzaz does not face criminal charges, despite more than a year in detention, including several months in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance."

We are writing with an urgent request that you speak out publicly and forcefully with respect to the cases of two prisoners in Egypt with strong Canadian connections: Canadian citizen Mohamed Fahmy and Canadian permanent resident Khaled al-Qazzaz. Mr. Fahmy has been sentenced to a seven year prison sentence and Mr. al-Qazzaz has been held without charge or trial for close to one year. More than 80,000 Amnesty International members across the country look to you to press Egyptian authorities immediately to address the serious human rights concerns in these two cases."

"Egypt’s presidential elections will not wipe the country’s human rights record clean after 10 months of gross violations, Amnesty International said today.

Instead, the organization has warned that the human rights situation is likely to continue to deteriorate, with neither of Egypt’s two presidential candidates pledging any human rights reforms, nor action to hold those responsible for abuses to account. Instead, both candidates have made a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood movement a signature issue....

The army and security forces arrested Mohamed Morsi and nine of his aides on 3 July 2013 and detained them for months in conditions amounting to an enforced disappearance. Aide Khaled al-Qazzaz does not face criminal charges, despite months in detention..."

We are writing this Open Letter to you in advance of your trip to Egypt later this week. In the face of a deeply troubling human rights crisis in Egypt, your visit offers a crucial opportunity to convey a clear message that Canada looks to the Egyptian government to take immediate and meaningful steps to address the continuing deterioration in the country’s human rights situation. Amnesty International members across Canada are calling on you to make it clear that Canada expects the Egyptian government to commit to a program of action to protect the human rights of all Egyptians.

In addition to raising these very serious overarching concerns about the state of human rights protection in Egypt, we are calling on you to press for action with respect to three particular situations:

the immediate and unconditional release of Canadian citizen and prisoner of conscience Mohamed Fahmy;

the release from detention of detained Canadian permanent resident Khaled al-Qazzaz who has been held without charge or trial for nine months, unless he is promptly charged with recognizably criminal offences and tried before civilian courts in a fair trial; and

the overturning of mass death sentences imposed on 528 individuals on March 24th of this year

"The Prosecution has also not formally charged Abdelmeguid Mashali, Khaled al-Qazzaz and Ayman al-Serafy with any criminal offence, even though they have spent over seven months in detention. The authorities have prevented lawyers from visiting them, except to attend investigation sessions by the Supreme State Security Prosecution."

“It’s a Kafkaesque world when Egypt’s government can secretly detain people for over five months and make up stories that they were arrested months later. Egypt should punish those who ordered the secret detention of these five men, and compensate the victims."

"The men's families were not told where they had been taken, or why. ... State media reports claimed on 18 December that the National Security Department within the Ministry of Interior had arrested the three Morsi aides transferred on 17 December at a flat in Heliopolis, Cairo, and sent them to the Supreme State Security Prosecutor’s Office for questioning. However, the reports conflict markedly with the fact that the three men have actually been held incommunicado since 3 July. The three men risk facing trumped-up charges, after being held incommunicado for more than five months."

“What kind of roadmap is this where a military-backed government can brazenly disappear former presidential aides for 150 days without any explanation? Forcibly disappearing people for months on end doesn’t inspire confidence that this government intends to follow the rule of law.”

"An enforced disappearance also constitutes a “continuous” crime under international law: it persists, and continues to inflict suffering on the victim’s family, as long as the fate of the missing person is unknown or concealed. The UN Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1992, recognizes the practice of “disappearances” as a violation of the rights to due process, liberty, and security of a person."

"The authorities are still arbitrarily detaining other members of Mohamed Morsi’s presidential team. Families of some of the aides held told Amnesty International that they still do not have regular contact with their relatives, and that they still do not know where they are being held or the legal basis of their detention."

"Amnesty International is concerned that Adly al-Qazzaz, who is in poor health, was arrested because his son is an aide to the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi. ... Adly al-Qazzaz was not allowed to inform his family and lawyer of his whereabouts for three days after his arrest. ... Adly al-Qazzaz’s son, Khaled al-Qazzaz, is one of Mohamed Morsi’s aides and has been detained without charge and trial by the authorities in an unknown location since 3 July."

"The men believed to be held without visits by their families or lawyers are deposed President Mohamed Morsi; Ayman Ali; Ahmed Abdelaty; Assaad al-Shikh; Khaled al-Qazzaz; Essam al-Haddad; Abdelmequid Mashali; Refa’a al-Tahtawy; Ayman al-Hodhod; and Ayman al-Serafy."

"Deposed President Mohamed Morsi and nine of his aides have been held in an unknown location by the Egyptian authorities since 3 July, without contact with their lawyers, doctors, or family. They appear to be held in a manner which deprives them of the protection of the law, in conditions which put them at risk for torture and other ill-treatment and may amount to enforced disappearance."

"At least 10 members of the Presidential team, including deposed President Mohamed Morsi, have been held incommunicado since 3 July in conditions that may amount to an enforced disappearance. Family members who have asked have been denied information on their relative’s whereabouts and fate, and they appear not to have been brought before a judge or given access to a lawyer. The authorities have yet to disclose their exact whereabouts or the charges facing them. "

"The military has also arrested the deposed president himself and at least ten members of his team and kept them in incommunicado detention for four days, unable to speak with their families or lawyer. The military has not confirmed where they are currently held, nor formally charged them with any recognizable offenses or brought them before a judge. The military should release the former president and his aides unless prosecutors have evidence that they committed a cognizable crime under Egyptian law, Human Rights Watch said. Any such charges should not contradict the internationally recognized rights to free expression and peaceful association."

On July 3, 2013, the Egyptian military forcibly and illegally detained Khaled Al-Qazzaz, a Canadian-educated mechanical engineer, human rights activist and former school principal. His Toronto-born wife, Sarah Attia, has been raising awareness about his situation with the hopes of bringing him back home to her and their four children.